Bacolod City, Philippines – Negrenses
are asking the help of President Aquino to ask the Commission on Audit (COA) to
explain why it took them more than a year until now to decide whether to approve
or disapprove the signed contracts between Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) and the Negros
Occidental provincial government on the sale and lease of the 7.7-hectare prime
property in Bacolod.

COA’s inaction on the contracts for
more than a year prompted ALI to withdraw from the project which would have
created thousands of jobs for Negrenses and would have poured in billions of
pesos to Negros Occidental, Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said.

“I hope that the President would
intervene on the matter. The withdrawal of ALI is a big setback for Negros
Occidental and Bacolod City,” Marañon added.

About 500 businessmen, government
officials, workers, students and ordinary folks lit candles in front of the
Provincial Capitol Monday night to dramatize their mourning of the loss of
multi-billion peso investments as a result of Ayala Land’s pullout of its
proposed P6-billion development project.

The gathering was spearheaded by the
Hotel Restaurant Association of Negros Occidental (HRANO) and Philippine
Constructors Association of Negros (PCAN).

HRANO vice president Nestor Evaristo
said they would come up with a manifesto to be sent to President Aquino asking
for his help on the matter.

The “mourners” carried placards that
read “Ayala Land Please Don’t Leave.” They said that it seems Negros Occidental
had to celebrate “All Souls’ Day” early.

“The gathering shows that Negrenses
are angry at COA. It blocks the progress for Negros,” Marañon said.

The governor expressed hope that the
gathering Monday night would snowball and spark more mass actions demanding for
COA’s approval of the project and for Ayala Land to reconsider its decision.

When asked if he is still hoping that
things would turn around in favor of Negros, the governor said, “I’m hoping
against hope that Ayala will change its decision.”

Marañon added that several private
citizens in Negros are planning to file impeachment complaints against COA
commissioners. He said under the law, COA should act on the proposed contracts
within six months upon submission, but the Capitol-ALI deal had been pending at
COA for 14 months already.

The governor blames “politicking” as the cause
of delay in the COA. “Definitely, somebody is trying to block the COA approval
of the project,” he stressed.

Reports said the husband of Ma. Gracia
Pulido-Tan, chairperson of COA, is giving legal services to Henry Sy and his
family who owns SM Prime Holdings, the rival bidder to the said property and is
questioning in court the contract granted to Ayala.

Tan, however, had inhibited from
hearing the case.

The governor earlier said that as a
partner in government service, COA should heed the call of the people of
Bacolod and Negros Occidental, represented by their government officials and
private sectors, who support the project and believe that it could be an
instrument for development and progress.

Evaristo and PCAN president Danny Yee
said the gathering was spontaneous and apolitical, as they only wanted to air
their disgust and disappointment over the loss of Ayala Land’s investments in
Negros that would have brought billions of pesos into the local economy and
created thousands of jobs.

Dubbed the Capitol Civic Center, the project
is designed to be an integrated mixed-used civic and commercial district and
envisioned to be the growth center of Negros Occidental.

Aside from the P6-billion investment,
the provincial government also loses at least P3.5 billion from the sale and
lease of the 7.7-hectare property.

Both the Deed of Conditional Sale and
the Contract of Lease was awarded by the provincial government to Ayala Land
last July 20, 2011 and submitted thereafter to COA for approval, but until now
the commission has no decision on the matter.

Emilio Tumbocon, Ayala Land senior
vice president and group head for the Visayas-Mindanao and Superblock Projects,
use a letter to Marañon last Sept. 13, “After more than a year since the
property was awarded to Ayala Land for development, we regret that we are unable
to pursue the project on account of the delays and legal disputes that continue
to threaten its implementation, through no fault of Ayala Land.”

“In light of this, and considering
that the provincial government was unable to fulfill its obligation to deliver
the property to us under the terms of the agreement, we are open to discussing
with you a mutual disengagement from the project,” Tumbocon wrote further.

“It’s a very sad day for Negros
Occidental and Bacolod… It’s a big, big loss to our people. Negros lost a
golden opportunity of a P6-billion investment and thousands of job
opportunities,” Marañon said.

Evaristo said part of Ayala Land’s
development is the construction of a convention center that can house at least
3,000 guests. “We in the hotel and restaurant industries are waiting for the
establishment of a convention center which is a part of the plan of Ayala.
Apparently, it will never happen again. A convention center is what we need
here for us to boost our tourism industry,” he said.

But now that Ayala has recalled the
project, it might take years again for big investors to build a convention center
in Bacolod.

“The Commission on Audit should be
blamed for this. Why did they sit on it for so long? At least they should have
an explanation. They have been hanging the provincial government for a long
time already,” architect Ramiro Garcia said.

Frank Carbon, president of the Metro
Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the business community “mourns”
Ayala’s withdrawal from the project. “We will mourn for this because that
investment, if pushed through, could have created a thousand jobs, direct and
indirect … We need more jobs here,” he said.

Meanwhile, Marañon said he would immediately
create a committee to re-study the 7.7-hectare property, including the
possibility of re-bidding it.

Patrick Vince Bayhon, legal counsel
for SM Prime Holdings, said they would study how Ayala Land’s withdrawal of its
development plan would affect their pending case against the Negros Occidental
provincial government.